


The Picnic

by c00kie



Series: The Boy from Eagleton [6]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 05:33:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4509744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Leslie go on a picnic and go a little crazy</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Picnic

Leslie arrives at the Wyatt mansion ten minutes before noon. She almost expects the door to be opened by an old butler named Jeeves or Reginald, even though Ben’s told her they lost their butler last year and his parents refuse to get a new one,  but instead it’s opened by a guy who looks exactly like Ben, only his hair touches his ears and he’s wearing a bowtie.

Ben doesn’t wear bowties.

She can’t believe she’s been dating Ben for six months and he never mentioned he was a twin. “Um, you must be Henry.”

He looks her over, scrutinizing her from top to bottom. “You must be Leslie.”  

She’s surprised. Usually people in Eagleton call her Pawnee Trash. “Yeah.”

Henry moves, letting her in. “Well he’s in the kitchen. Do you know where that is?”

She thinks she remembers from the tour Ben gave her. “Yeah?”

“Just go that way and take a right.” Henry points the way, then sits down on the white sofa to continue watching the Sopranos on a  72" flat screen TV.

Leslie shakes her head and goes into the kitchen, where she finds Ben and Stephanie throwing stuff in a picnic basket. She watches as they take what looks like random things from the fridge and toss it inside the basket.

“Hi.”

Ben looks up, banging his head on the shelf. “Leslie!”

He stands, rubbing his head as he comes over to hug her. It’s then that she notices his outfit. Ben’s outfits have always screamed ’ rich preppy hipster’ but she’s never seen him in anything like this before. A white short sleeve shirt, pale green shorts and boat shoes.

“What are you wearing?”

“Oh these?” he points to his shorts. “these are my summer shorts.”

Leslie snorts. “Did you just call those you summer shorts?”

“What else would they be?” he looks at Stephanie, shaking his head like do you see this? Pawneeans don’t know what summer shorts are.

“Do you have winter shorts?”

“Why would I wear shorts in the winter?” Ben asks, blinking. “Do Pawneeans wear shorts in winter?”

“It would explain a lot,” Stephanie says, making Ben nod in agreement.

“We don’t.” Leslie sighs, rubbing her hand over her face. At least he’s not wearing a scarf. “So what’s for lunch?”

Ben beams and Leslie does not think it’s cute, at all. Except that it is. “Oh well I’ve got lots. We’ve got caviar, hummus with pita chips, cucumber dill salad, deviled quail eggs, mini italian sausage calzones and strawberry mousse.”

Leslie frowns at him. “None of that sounds like real food.”

“You’ll love it,” Ben promises, kissing Leslie’s cheek while Stephanie closes the lid before Leslie can at least take out the salad. “Now come on, I have to find a scarf.”

Ben takes his time picking out a scarf. While Leslie waits, she sits on his bed and looks throw a photo album she pulled off his built in bookshelf. It’s pictures of him and his family at various locations. Tropical beaches, European mountains, deep sea fishing expeditions. She notices the only time his father smiles is when he’s holding a fish.

Ben looks bored in most of them.

There’s one though, where he’s with a pretty girl Leslie doesn’t recognize, their faces close together, where he’s smiling.

Ben comes out, having chosen a scarf and she holds the book up. “Who is this?”

He comes over, tying the scarf. “Oh, that’s Denise. My French girlfriend.”

“You have a French girlfriend?”

“Only when I’m in France,” Ben answers and before Leslie can ask if a French girlfriend is anything like summer shorts, he says, “so no.”

“Oh.”

“That was from two years ago. I met her during our trip to Nice. She was a nice distraction from my parent’s constant fighting. But I didn’t keep in touch.”

Leslie puts the book down, shutting it. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be jealous.”

“No,” Ben agrees, slowly kissing her.

Leslie grabs his scarf and pulls him down to the bed.

Fifteen minutes later, Ben’s hair is a little unkempt, his mouth is shiny and her body is still vibrating. So Leslie considers it time well wasted.

—

They go to one of Eagleton’s parks. It’s large and green with lots of trees, plus men who go around picking up people’s trash.

“Isn’t this the best?”

It’s no Pawnee park, but Leslie guesses it’s alright. “Yeah.”

“We call it wide smiles abound, because of all the smiles.”

And his friends think she’s the weird one. “Right. So where are we sitting?” There’s plenty of space where other couples and families are having picnics of their own.

“Follow me, my lady,” Ben says, offering her the hand he isn’t carrying the basket with. Before leaving he checked on the basket making sure all the food was good, refusing to let her look. Not that Leslie wanted to. It’s bad enough she has to eat it. She takes his hand though, allowing him to lead her through the park, over a bridge and down a hill, to a shady patch of grass by the pond.

She helps him spread out a blanket and sits, taking off her shoes and stretching her legs out. He sits next to her, the basket between them. He opens it, taking two bottles of root beer out. Ben opens both, handing her one.

She look at the bottle, surprised. It’s just a normal brand of root beer. “I’m surprised I thought it would be like, cumquat lemonade.”

“No,” Ben says, laughing. “Now close your eyes.”

Leslie leans her bottle against the basket and exhaling, she closes her eyes. “I can already tell you I’m not going to like-”

She smells chocolate and something sweet.

“Bite.”

She does, tasting dark chocolate and strawberry. “Oh my god,” she says when she swallows, her eyes open and taking in Ben’s smirk. “You tricked me.”

“Did you really think I would I would make you eat cucumber salad?” Ben asks.

“Well…”

Ben shakes his head, smiling. “We have chocolate covered strawberries, cheese brought back from Switzerland by Henry, crackers, and finally, Waffles, courtesy of JJ’s diner, and Italian sausage calzones” he says, taking out the items and laying the on the blanket. “Sorry I didn’t lie about those.” She takes the box of waffles and the tub of whipped cream.  

“Did I mention this cheese is illegal? Henry had to sneak it in past customs.”

“If I eat some of your ridiculous cheese will you let me eat my waffle?” It’s probably cold, but she doesn’t care. She’s hungry.

Ben frowns, spreads some of the cheese on a cracker and gives it to her. It’s fine. A little tart, with a bit of an after taste, but the texture is smooth, which is nice.

Still, she prefers the waffles and the strawberries.

He can have his calzones.

“So,” she says, “I didn’t know you were a twin.”

“Leslie, there are pictures of him all over the house.”

“I was distracted by all the marble,” Leslie replies. “And I thought they were of you.”

“Even the ones where we’re both in it?”

Leslie huffs. “Fine. I should have known. So he was in Switzerland?”

“Boarding school,’ Ben answers, wiping his fingers on a napkin. "I could have gone too but I chose to stay in Eagleton.”

“Oh. Well I’m glad you did,” Leslie says, leaning over to kiss him even though he tastes like marinara sauce.

He keeps his hand in her hair even when the kiss ends. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“You should marry me.”

Leslie laughs. “Was there something in that cheese?”

“I’m serious. We should get married. We’ll get a house in Eagleton-”

“Okay now I know you’re crazy. I would never live in Eagleton. Also, college. That place we’re going to in August.”

“Plenty of people are married and go to college.”

“They also get divorced because they got married too early. Also, are you insane?”

“Insanely in love with you,” he says, holding a ring the size of Leslie’s head. Okay it’s not that big, but it’s definitely bigger than most she’s seen.

“I love you too. But we’ve only been together for six months.”

“Seven, and when you know, you know,” Ben says. “So what do you say? Leslie Knope will you-”

“Summer shorts.”

“What?”  He pushes his eyebrows together. “Is that a-”

“I will be married to a man who says ‘summer shorts’.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Do you wear winter pants?”

“Yes. Answer the question. It’s okay if it’s no. But just know I’m going to keep asking you every day until you say yes, so you might as well just do it now.”

Leslie stares at the ring. It is pretty. And she can see herself wearing it. And being married to him, even if he is from Eagleton and uses the phrase summer shorts. But still.

She looks him in the eye and gives in at the sight of his deep brown eyes staring back at her, waiting for her answer. “I’m not living in Eagleton.”

Ben groans. “Fine.”

“And I don’t want to get married for at least a year.” Maybe in that time Ben will come to his senses.

“We’ll discuss it.”

“And-”

“Leslie.”

“Fine, yes,” Leslie says, still pretty sure that her boyfriend has caught some brain eating bacteria from the cheese.  This is why there are laws.

He puts the ring on her finger and  kisses her, pulling her down on him before rolling her over onto her back.

Yeah, Ben will come to his senses soon enough. But until he does, she’ll let herself go a little crazy too. 


End file.
